New Play Development

Calling WomenPlaywrights...

All Active Members of the Alumnae Theatre are invited to join the New Play Development (NPD) group. We’re a group of women playwrights and dramaturges, at all levels of experience, who meet once a month from September through June to read and share our work, to give feedback to each other, and to discuss playwriting issues. At times we also meet in smaller, weekly groups.

Partnering with directors, dramaturges, and actors, NPD organizes two annual showcases of new Canadian works:• Write Now! — A weekend-long playwriting challenge held in October that culminates a week later in a presentation of rehearsed readings of all the entries;• Big Ideas — A festival of longer works held each May that includes directed staged readings with actors, as well as table reads.

Many NPD members also submit plays to New Ideas Festival, Alumnae Theatre’s juried three-week festival of new plays held each March. Plays developed through NPD are also eligible for full production in November as part of Alumnae’s FireWorks, which features two to three new works and a series of panel discussions on topics related to the plays.

NPD can also help writers with dramaturgical support and setting up readings and workshops of plays.

NPD always welcomes new members. For more information on how to join the NPD and the meeting dates/times, visit our members-only site to contact the NPD coordinator. To join NPD, you must be a member of Alumnae Theatre. If you are not yet a member, please join us and indicate on your registration that you would like to be included in the NPD.